We Hang it on Walls

I stopped by an art opening last week; beautiful photographs from a colleague’s recent trip.  The artist and I travel in similar circles so the inevitable question was asked: do you ever do fine art like this [referring to the show]?  I honestly didn’t know how to respond to that, you’d think the answer is simple.

My internal tension must have been palpable because he restated the question: “you know, the kind of stuff you hang on the wall.”  OK … well, that just made it worse.  I think everyone who makes money with a camera considers themselves an artist, and the word “fine” simply means your work is appreciated enough to say, “that’s really fine work” – doesn’t it?

Perhaps Fine Art, or the stuff you hang on the wall, needs to be vague enough to provide a personally emotional experience that doesn’t answer too many questions.  In a sense, it’s open ended art that delivers a personal experience that keeps on giving.  If it didn’t continually deliver, you’d take it down after a week.

If that’s true, less than “fine” must mean it delivers a purposeful emotion that answers questions.  It visually delivers emotion in a targeted way.  Is there crossover?  Most definitely – partially because the action of framing and hanging can be transformative: think Campbell Soup.

Finally my answer was, “it’s all photography to me” but that wasn’t my final answer.  I’m still working on that.